Canon PowerShot S5 IS

I had been eyeing this camera since it was first announced. I was looking for a decent camera, a step above the compact point-and-shoots, and a step below the DSLRs. This camera seemed to fit the bill, and it was at my price point also. I bought the camera with the idea that this would be the be-all-end-all of non-DSLR digital cameras for the next couple years, and I bought it before the review sites had their reviews up.
Anyway, I've used the camera for a couple days now and taken about 400 shots with it. It is pretty good, although I want to share my thoughts on a couple things that other reviews have brought up.

PROS

Very quick.
This camera focuses extremely quick (and beeps to let you know it's in focus), and when it can't focus it lets you know. I use it in the 'P' setting mostly, and if it can't focus (due to low light or no contrast) it just doesn't beep. It is very quick to turn on and extend it's lens.

Feature-packed.
The amount of features on this thing are truly spectacular, even the creature comforts are nice (such as the histogram and over-exposure detect). The rotating LCD screen is awesome. It enables shots that otherwise wouldn't be possible. You won't find another ultra-zoom on the market at this price range that offers more in this area.

Feel
This camera feels nice. It feels solid (as long as the lens cap is off). The rotating LCD doesn't feel loose or cheap. The on/off button is nicely located. It makes it fun to use. The zoom is silent too.

There have been a lot of complaints about the battery door being too flimsy. I think this is a little overblown. It's not as nice as some other cameras, but it's not that bad really. As for the batteries being in the same slot as the memory card, I can see why for some people that would be an issue, but for 90% of the users I don't really see it as that much of a problem. I think of it as only having a battery door since I rarely take the memory card out of my cameras anyway ( I just use the supplied cable to transfer the images and a very large memory card).

CONS

Noise present.
There is an unpleasant amount of noise at the 8 MP setting, especially in ISO 200 or above. This seems to be the trend, cram as many pixels as we can into this thing because the market dictates this. Noise is comparable to the FZ8 in my opinion, however, the noise reduction is not so aggressive.
This being said, I prefer some noise way more than an aggressive noise-reduction system's effects. However, if I wanted a camera that delivers the quality of a 5 megapixel camera I would've bought one. They are much cheaper.

Lens cap flimsy.
The lens cap is somewhat flimsy, falling off easily if you bump it, or even set it on a table too hard. This is obviously so you don't jam the motor by turning it on without removing the cap (which you're bound to do eventually). I'm used to the self-contained lens caps which retract automatically, but I understand this is tough on a camera with a lens this long. I had a camera once that when powered up would detect that the cap was still on and beep, letting you know to take the cap off. That's probably too much to ask these days.

Red-Eye.
The redeye reduction is not great on this camera (it doesn't pre-fire the flash, it just illuminates an LED on the front), so I find myself using the red-eye removal tool that is in the camera. The results of this were only so-so for me. I've had mixed results. Sometimes it works wonders, others it did indeed detect and remove the red-eye, only to replace the red with an unnatural looking black (it's hard to explain, but think of what the photo touchup machine at Target would do). If you wanna see this, e-mail me. This is OK if you're just creating small prints, although if you look at it on your computer display at full-res you clearly see this effect. If your subject is looking directly at the camera, the detection can remove the red-eye from both eyes. However, if your subject is not directly at the camera, sometimes the red-eye removal only catches one of the eyes. This is somewhat of a minor issue due to the amount of aftermarket red-eye reduction software available (CS3 anyone?).

Chromatic Abberation/Blurry Corners
This seems to be a bit of a problem with this camera. Not more so than some other cameras in this range, but it is annoying. I don't know what exactly causes it, but I have taken shots in my backyard during daylight, and whenever light is reflecting off of something with anything dark in the background, I see this red/magenta outlines. Some cameras remove this in processing the JPEG image(e.g. Lumix), which is something that would be nice to have. I'm probably making a bigger deal out of it than it really is. I've seen much worse in some of the competition. Blurry corners seem to be a problem as well. If you take an outdoor scene shot, you'll notice that the four corners are a little blurry and distorted. Some people wouldn't see this being that much of a problem, but I love taking outdoor scenic shots where details like that are important.

Zoom Control.
This aspect is really annoying. The zoom control is somewhat cheap feeling and over-sensitive. It is one of those that changes zoom speed based on how hard you press the lever. It has a slow speed and a fast speed. However, the slow speed doesn't have enough hysteresis. It is difficult to get the zoom speed just right. I have a feeling the slow speed will wear out and only the fast will remain. I actually used a S3 with this worn out zoom controller and it was quite annoying, as you could only zoom fast.



If I weren't so picky I would LOVE this camera, however the less-than-outstanding image quality make it 4 stars instead of 5. As it is, it's not perfect for indoor nor outdoor shots. If anyone wants to see any examples of stuff I've talked about, please e-mail me and i'll get you some examples.

I'm very happy with the S5 I bought to replace an S3 -- except, as noted elesewhere, I hate that the SD card is now in the battery compartment. The hot shoe (external flash socket) is a HUGE help, since the builtin flash on these cameras is pretty wimpy. The camera takes unbelievably good pictures and has excellent first shot and shot-to-shot times (it helps if you use the Energizer e2 Lithium Batteries). Although the S5 weighs about 4 oz more than the S3 (About 20 oz vs 16 oz inclding batteries), its construction "feels more rugged."

BTW, I don't know that you need to wait for larger cards for bigger movies, etc. I use an 8gb SDHC card now. Be careful, though, which SDHC cards you get. Even with Sandisk's attempt to standardize the speeds, I found that an A-Data "class 6" SDHC card was about 25-35% of the speed of my Transcend class 6 card. Also, remember that you need an SDHC card reader (I got mine from meritline for $5).

After buying the S5 to replace my S3 I was very disappointed with the image noise as noted on another review here. This is not a Canon only problem and it's becoming a troubling trend as megapixels are added at the expense of image quality.

It's not a matter of the S5 being better than the Sony H7 or H9, it's a matter of any of these cameras being able to equal their own previous generation model with regard to noise. The megapixel war is simply marketing nonsense unless you plan on printing wall posters or drastically cropping images. The fact is that only so many pixels can be put on the same size image sensor before the noise level becomes a problem and anti-noise electronic counter measures simply trade one problem for another.

My S5 went back to the store and I'll continue to use my S3. I'll miss the hot shoe and the new LCD viewing screen, but for me photography is more about images that camera features. Eventually the companies will probably come around, but until then you may want to regard ever higher megapixal ratings with suspicion.

Is anyone else as flummoxed by the negative consumer and expert reviews of this camera as I am? If I were paranoid, I'd think a conspiracy existed to drive down the cost of this remarkable camera.

The range of controls is very broad, their setup is intuitive, and the camera's performance is exemplary. Not only am I pleased with how the camera handles and what it will do, but I'm WAY pleased with the images it produces. I've had my camera for a week now; I've played with all the shooting modes and have taken pictures in all sorts of lighting. As long as the camera is set correctly for the shot, images are consistently superb. The ones that have been anything less than stellar were caused by my own hastiness or error.

Movies also are awesome, and stereo sound is a huge plus.

Maybe I just lucked out and got a good copy. Maybe it isn't really the fantastic piece of photographic wizardry I believe it is. But I am a long-in-the-tooth advanced amateur with perfectionistic tendencies. And in my estimation the S5 IS is an amazing tool.

Minor issues inherent in a camera of this sensor size and lens zoom range do exist. According to the many expert camera reviews, there presently is not a mega-zoom on the market that is completely free of chromatic aberration and some noise at higher ISOs. If you're planning to print poster-sized images, get a 35mm digital SLR and some very expensive lenses--you'll be pleased with nothing less. But if you're looking for a go-anywhere camera that bridges the gap between that big D-SLR and the teensy little super-compact in your photo bag, if most of your prints are average size, and you do the majority of your viewing on a computer, look no further. You can't go wrong with the S5 IS.

PS. Oh, yeah, one more thing. It's just plain FUN!

I owned the S3 for three months - I bought it at a very reputable national retailer that had a very generous return policy. THe S3 is a wonderful camera and if you are cash strapped, you'll be hard pressed to find a better camera under $300 than the S3. However, I did look at the Canon S5 and found it worth the $200 upgrade for me. I buy cameras about every 4-5 years and I think the larger and higher resolution LCD makes the S5 a superior camera to the S3. They both take great pics and I don't particularly care that the S5 has 8 Megapixels. The best camera I ever owned was a Nikon Coolpix 950 - I'd put it's pics up against any and it was only 2.1 Megapixels. Megapixels is for marketing purposes, but after you acheive a certain level of resolution, it's pointless beyond that. Anyway, the S5 has some nice upgrades including, I think, a better battery door, better buttons - they're recessed and softer and have a better feel. Also is a metal tripod mount, hot shoe, Digic III image processing, and a larger, higher resolution LCD. The video mode allows for larger file sizes as well, which means you can record for more than 1 GB before having to start a new file. The S3 is a great camera and the S5 is the S3 with a few nice refinements. If you are one to upgrade every year or two, get the S3 - it's a great camera. If, on the other hand, you upgrade every 3-5 yearas and you want the best you can get for your money right now and you can afford another $150-$200, get the S5.